Why give up too soon? There is power in persistent prayer

There are times when we are burdened down with cares, worries, fears and troubles of this life. We have all been there, and in the physical everything will look impossible, and it is during this time that we give up, and the enemy shows up to confirm the failure. This is what the enemy wants from us, to say it with our own mouth that God has failed us despite our prayers.

If you remember, that time when Jesus Christ was taken to the wilderness in Spirit to be tested by the devil, the devil misquoted scriptures from the bible which means that the devil knows the Word very well and to his own advantage subtly changes it to make it to say something it originally did not say; as well. The enemy knows our weakness, that if we are pressed on too hard, we will give up too soon.

I just want to talk about Hanna’s prayer. Samuel 1:7; says that; “year by year, when she went up to the House of the Lord, she wept and did not eat.” Year by year means that it went on for many years and her adversary, Peninnah also provoked her sore to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. It is the same even now with us during our down times. Many Peninnas will show up, just to intimidate us, and in fact they are the main reason why children of God tend to give up when they are not supposed to. As Christians, we need to be careful on this because the Peninnas are in most cases the closest people to us. They will not come from somewhere else, but those who are so dear and close to us are the ones the enemy like to use because the enemy knows that they are the ones we will listen to easily.

Samuel 1: 9-10 tells us that; “Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiroh, and after they had drunk. She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.” This is in fact the type of prayer that the Lord always hears and answer if done in perfectly will. It is most of the time very hard to pray this kind of prayer because our focus is too much drawn to the situation at hand. If Hannah, had chosen to listen to what the enemy was saying, then she would have given up and say that I have prayed for many years but nothing has happened. It is her persistent prayer that made God move and give her a child, whom he named Samuel who was dedicated to the House of the Lord.

Another moving story in the Bible is about Job. God actually gave permission to satan to test Job because God knew how perfect, an upright man, one who feared God, and eschewed evil Job was. When the temptations came, we see his wife asking Job to curse God and die. This was the closest person in Job’s life that the enemy chose to use to bring defeat to Job. Job was quick to learn that the advice of the wife was ungodly and rebuked her. Mathew 10:16 says that; “…Be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. A serpent is wise, with keen eyesight and is quick to learn. A dove is innocent, meek and gentle. We should be clever to know quickly the skims of the enemy on our lives and take Godly measures so that we are not defeated. Job knew His God and refused to hear the false voices, but chose to believe in His God and that is why he was rewarded after being tested.

“And there was in a city a judge which feared not God , neither regarded man and a widow that kept on asking him to avenge of her adversary”Luke:18:2-3. Because of the widow’s persistent, the ungodly judge said that though I do not fear God nor regard man, but because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. This means every time he looked up, she was there, and he decided to just give her that which her heart desired. If such an ungodly judge, was in the end able to listen to the petition of the supplicant, of whom he cares nothing, will not God surely listen to the prayer of someone whom he loves with a deep, enduring love?

A persistent Prayer is the only tool that we have as God’s children. Refuse to listen to the voice of the enemy but chose to listen to the voice of truth. Take prayer as an opportunity to be in touch with our Heavenly Father any time the need arises. In the process God will build, comfort, and make us strong soldiers of His army. “Pray without Ceasing”. Thessalonians 5:17.